River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1887-07-21
INSTINCT AND HABIT.

INSTINCT AND HABIT.
Henry James. in an article in Scrtb-
ner's Magazine on "Instinct." shows
that he has given close study to this
faculty in its various forms as it appears
in man and beast. After defining the
word for the purposes of his discussion
and showing that the faculty is present
in all living beings. he arrives at a con
clusion different from the older writer's
on the subject. who smothered every.
thing in vague wonder at the clair
yoyant and prophetic power of the ami
mails. so superior TO anything in man,
and at the benetieence of God in en-
downing them with such gift. He con-
cludes that every instinct is an impulse,
and that man has greater variety of
impulses than any lower animal, and
any one of these impulses is as "blind"
as the lowest instinct can be; but owing
to mans memory, power of reflection
and power of inference they come
each one to be felt by him in connec-
ton with foresight of their results
1t is obvious that every instinct in an
animal with memory must be accom-
panied with foresight as to its end just
so far as that end may have fallen un-
der the animals cognizance Thus it
| is plain that no matter how well en-
dowed an animal may originally be in
the matter of instincts his actions will
be much modified if, in addition to i'm
pulses. he have memories. associations
and differences on any considerable
scale.
When he was four months old he
would make very elaborate pretence
of burying things such as gloves &c,
which he had played with until he was
| tired. He scratched the carpet with
his forefeet, dropped the object from
his mouth upon the spot. and then
scratched all about it with both fore
and hind feet, if | remember rightly,
and finally went away and let it lie.
OF course the act was entirely useless
] saw him perform it at that age some
| four or five times, and never again in
! his life. The conditions were not pres
emf to fix habit which could last
when the prompting instinct died
away. But suppose meat instead of a
glove, earth instead of a carpet, hunger
pangs instead of fresh supper few
hours later, and it is easy to sec how
this dog might nave got into the habit
of burying superiuous food, which
might have lasted all his life.
This popularity is still more notice
able in human beings. If a boy grows
up alone at the age of games and
sports, and learns neither to play ball,
nor row, nor sail, nor ride, nor skate,
nor fish, nor shoot. probably he will
be sedentary to the end of his days,
and though the best of opportunities
be afforded him for learning these
things later. it is a hundred to one but
he will pass them by and shrink back
from the effort oftaking those necessary
steps the prospect of which. at an
earlier age, would have filled him
with eager delight. The sexual past
sion expires after protracted reign;
but it is well known that its peculiar
manifestations in given individual de-
pend almost entirely on the habits he
may form during the early period Of
its activity.
Young animals says the writer.
Immediately after birth, have no in
stinct of fear. but show their dependence
by allowing themselves to be freely
handled Later, however, they grow
wild. and. if left to themselves, will
not let man approach them. | am told
10y farmers in the Adirondack wilder
ness that il is a very serious matter if a
COW wanders off and calves in the
woods and is not found for week or
more. The calf, by that time, is as
wild and almost as fleet as deer, and
hard to capture without violence. But
calves rarely show any particular
wildness to the men who have been
in contact with them during the first
DAYS of their life, when the instinct TO
attach themselves is uppermost, nor do
they dread strangers as they would if
brought up wild.
This leads to the law of transitori-
ness, which is this That many instincts
ripen at a certain age, and then fade
away. A consequence of this law is
that il, during the time of such an in
stnct's vivacity, objects adequate
to arouse it are met with.
a habit of acting on them is formed,
which remains when the original
instinct has passed away; but that
if no such objects are met with
then no habit will be formed; and,
| later on i'm life, when the animal meets
the objects he will altogether fail to
react, as at the earlier epoch he would
instinctively have done. No doubt
such law is restricted. Some instincts
are far less transient than others
those connected with feeding and
MISREPRESENTATION may hardly be
| transient at all, and some. after fading
out for a time, recur as strong as ever,
e. g., the instincts of pairing and rear
ing young. The author cites as an ex-
ample of the habit of acting on instinct
| Scotch terrier, born on the floor of IA
stable and transferred six weeks later
to a carpeted house.
Exposure to bad company then makes
him a loose liver all his DAYS; chastity
kept at first makes the same easy later
on. In all pedagogy the great thing
is to strike the iron while hot, and to
seize the wave of the pupils interest in
each successive subject before its ebb
has come. so that knowledge may be
got and habit of skill acquired
| Roadway of interest. in short,
secured, on which afterward the indi-
viudal may float. There Is happy
moment for fixing ski in drawing, for
making boys collectors in natural his
tory, and presently dissectors and
botanists; then for initiating them into
the harmonies of mechanics and the
wonders of physical and chemical law,
and so on. In each of US q
saturation point is soon reached in all
these things; the impetus of our purely
intellectual zeal expires, and unless the
topic be one associated with some mr.
| ,c.,,,t ,,arsona1 need that EppnS ORR wits